Trail Heroes of 2011

A year gone by, thousands of trail miles run. Twenty-eleven had no shortage of notable achievements on trails and in races of all kinds. The following list isn't definitive, complete, or scientifically vetted. Nonetheless, here is our top-10 list of noteworthy trail-running feats of 2011:

Kasie Enman. This low-key new mom (her daughter is 16 months old) won the women’s World Mountain Running Championship in Albania, despite never having competed on the women’s Mountain Running Team before. She also won the American qualifying race in June at New Hampshire's Cranmore Hill Climb (as did King).

Diana Finkel. The 40-year-old won the Hardrock 100 women’s race for the fourth time and was fifth overall among the men. Her result was a particularly personal triumph, as kidney failure following the 2010 race (for which she led outright before finishing second overall) threatened her life.

Darcy Africa was second to Finkel at Hardrock, and 7th overall among the men. Weeks later, Africa was the top American finisher at the punishing UTMB, placing third among women for a podium spot. In April, she also set the speed record for the Grand Canyon’s 48-mile Rim 2 Rim 2 Rim route.

Hal Koerner admittedly fell apart yet finished the grueling UTMB by staggering for the second half of 38 hours. But Koerner, and anyone else who finished a race in 2011 despite feeling like total garbage, makes the list for having true grit and proving that running and even racing is not all about results.

Ian Sharman set a new record for the fastest 100-mile race time ever posted on American soil, running 12 hours, 44 minutes at February’s Rocky Raccoon. Coincidentally, the Brit, who’s now living in the California Bay Area, set another record in 2011: the Guinness Book of World Records' “fastest marathon run in a superhero costume” for clocking a 2:40 at the Napa Valley Marathon (albeit, on a road) in a Spider-Man costume. The latter record was broken a week later by Michael Wardian, also channeling Spider-Man, in Maryland.

Junyong Pak, who, after completing seven laps of trail running and insane obstacles over 24 hours in temperatures as low as 20˚ (much colder, if you count the pools of muddy ice water he had to swim through, repeatedly), earned $10,000 in prize money and the title of “World’s Toughest Mudder.” Of the 1,000 competitors entered, only 10 finished. Pak beat out second place by over four hours. See photos here.

Mike Wolfe and Ellie Greenwood. Wolfe, of Helena, Montana, was second to Jornet at the Western States 100 in June, but won the uber-competitive The North Face Endurance Challenge Championship in December. Greenwood (Banff, Alberta, Canada) won and set a course record at the Chuckanut 50K, and then won the Western States 100 in her debut 100-mile race. Despite strong racing resumes before 2011 (Wolfe was second at the 2010 UTMB in 2010, and Greenwood won the 2010 World 100K Championship, among others), these two had perhaps the most breakout performances of the year.

Colleen DeReuck. This 46-year-old mother of two and road running star won the Masters division of the Cross Country National Championships in San Diego last February, clocking a pace of 5:43 per mile. She finished a full minute, 34 seconds ahead of second place. Peter Magill (49) won men’s masters. Brent Vaughn won the men’s Open race, and Shalane Flanagan won women’s Open race. Fifty-nine-year-old Kathryn Martin of Northport, NY won the age-graded women’s race (for which De Reuck was graded third). Magill won the men's age-graded calculation.

Feel free to add more heroes in the comments section below, and Happy New Year, trail runners!